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THE
SCHOLFIELDS OF TODMORDEN
a
land surveyor, an ironmonger, an auctioneer, a surgeon, a farmer,
a pioneer, a handful of joiners, and an odd Todmorden Chartist or
two............... |
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Calf
Lee Farm |
Despite
the title of this article, the Scholfields originated in Walsden.
They lived and farmed at CALFLEE, Scout Top, KNOWL TOP and
Lodge Hall, all of which farms are situated on the eastern
slopes of the Walsden valley. James was the eldest of the
2 sons of James and Susan Scholfield, born in 1748 at Calflee
Farm in Walsden. |
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After
his marriage to Mally Fielden, daughter of Samuel Fielden
of BOTTOMLEY, he farmed at the family farm at Lodge Hall and
it was there where their first 5 children were born. Their
6th and last child was born in 1788 in Todmorden. On his farm
James made and sold stone sledges and manure, and turned his
hand to woodwork. He started a small business doing joinery
work in the neighbourhood. |
Lodge
Hall Farm, Walsden |
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Samuel
Fielden, his wife's father, had turned his Bottomley estate
over to her brother and had gone to live in a small cottage
at Doghouse in Todmorden. This cottage was part of the WHITE HART estate, which Samuel owned. Samuel offered his son-in-law
a piece of land on his estate on which to build a home for
himself and his family. He was an old man by this time and
maybe Mary, his only daughter, felt he needed looking after,
so James built a new house and the family moved to Todmorden.
This was 1786. James' own father had died in the January of
that year, leaving his mother Susan at Calflee with her 3
spinster daughters. |
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One
of this row of shops was James' joinery shop |
James
continued his work as a joiner from premises on North
Street, being responsible for making the coffins for
the pauper funerals. He became a respected member of
the Todmorden community, rising to an elevated position
in life. He was appointed as a church warden at St.
Mary's, and also as the Land Surveyor for the township. |
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As
part of his duties as Land Surveyor he made the plans and
specifications for the new GAUXHOLME POORHOUSE in 1802,
was involved in the alterations and repairs to St. Mary's
in 1809, and in 1821 was elected to a committee to investigate
the purchase and walling in of the new burial ground along
with Thomas Ramsbottom, Edward Dearden and Samuel Fielden.
Subsequent to this, a church rate was set by the Select
Vestry to raise £300 for the purpose of fencing the
new cemetery and for the erection of a Sacristy, which was
also intended to be used as a Sunday School. James, being
Church Warden at that time, was responsible for collecting
the rate and it was a most unpopular duty.
His
appointment as church warden would have caused dismay back
at Walsden, where his brothers and their families were heavily
involved in the Wesleyan Society and LANEBOTTOM SCHOOL AND CHAPEL in particular. His mother was the founder member
of the Wesleyan Society in the area. His wife's family would
also have disapproved as she was born into the Quaker faith,
and it was a great sin for a member to marry outside the
faith, especially in an established church as Mary did.
However, her father, although a Quaker himself, apparently
approved of her husband at the time he allowed them to build
on his land, and he remembered her in his will.........just:
...I
do give and bequeath to my Son Joshua all my wearing Apparel;
and to my Sons Joshua and John, and my Daughter Mary, or
Mally, wife of James Schofield, I do also give and bequeath
All my Household Furniture, Bed and Bedding, equally to
be divided amongst them, Share and Share alike...
James
died in 1823 aged 75 years and is buried with Mary and their
son James at St. Mary's. His gravestone is inscribed as
follows:
Mally
wife of James Scholfield of Todmorden died 19th March 1804
aged 58.
Also James their son who died at Bottomley November 18th.
1811 aged 37.
Also above named James, land surveyor of Todmorden,
died
April 21st. 1823 aged 75.
James
and Mally had 5 children who survived to adulthood: James,
John, Martha, William and Abraham. Martha married Ambrose
Brook, dying shortly afterwards during childbirth.
James
Scholfield Jnr.(1774-1811)
James
succeeded his father as a joiner in the same place on North
Street. He was a cooper, married to a namesake of his mother,
another Mary Fielden, this time of NORTH HOLLINGWORTH FARM.
James died a young man aged just 37 at Bottomley, his mother's
old home. His wife was left pregnant and with 7 other children
under the age of 15. Despite this, they all survived and
went their various ways in life. Her son James took to his
father's trade, although he was only 11 when his father
died. He did a full apprenticeship and became a master carpenter,
cooper, and joiner with 2 employees at the family shop near
the Black Swan on North Street in Todmorden. Mary herself
took a house at Hallroyd in Langfield, where she lived first
with her son Abraham and later with her son Samuel, working
as a laundress. She died there in 1854.
James'
oldest son, John, left Todmorden behind in 1818 when he
was 21 years old to find a new life in Canada. He died in
Ontario in 1866. The following is an extract from "The
History of Welland County, Ontario, 1887."
"John Scholfield married Margaret, a daughter
of Jacob Kilman, one of the early settlers of the county.
John Scholfield's name is closely associated with the
early history of Pelham, in which township he was for
many years one of the most enterprising citizens."
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| John Scholfield
(1776 - 1855) |
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North
Hollingworth |
John
was about 10 years old when his family moved to Todmorden
but in 1796 he married a Walsden lass and he settled back
in to farm life. He never returned to Todmorden to live, preferring
the open spaces and bracing air of the hills. He farmed first
at WATERSTALLS above Bottomley, then a spell at GENERAL WOOD,
and then at North Hollingworth. |
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He
had two wives and 12 children. His first wife, Betty
Greenwood, gave him 4 children but she died giving
birth to the fourth child, who survived. He married
Betty Crossley within a short space of time and she
gave him 8 more children. The second Betty died of
debility in 1841 at North Hollingworth at the age
of 60. |
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On the 8th March 1855 John went missing from
his home. His body was found in the canal near Square
Lock 3 days later. He was 78. |
Square
Lock |
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| William
Scholfield (1780 - 1848) |
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William
was an ironmonger by trade. He was affectionately known as
Old Will the Ironmonger and was a prominent tradesman in Todmorden.
He was a member of the SELECT VESTRY, the group of "Gentlemen,
Clergy and principal inhabitants" who formed the unelected
Local Council of the times. However, Will was no conservative.
He was a radical, even a rebel, and was heavily involved in
the Todmorden Chartist movement. He was a committee member
of the Todmorden Political Union and was very active in the
anti-poor law agitation and riots of 1838. He took active
parts in Chartist meetings, risking arrest and imprisonment,
if not transportation.
During
his membership of the Select Vestry, he was prominent in the
fight to segregate Todmorden from the Parish of Rochdale.
During the 1830's, Todmorden was financially maintaining 2
churches, St. Mary's and Christ Church, and was also obliged
to send money to the mother church in Rochdale. William, along
with most of the rest of the inhabitants, thought this unreasonable.
A meeting was convened in December 1840 at which William proposed
that a petition, which was to be sent to the relevant authorities,
should be presented to all ratepayers for signature. Those
at the meeting who signed the petition were:
Joseph
Cowell, Incumbent
John
Crossley, Scaitcliffe
James
Taylor, Todmorden hall
William
Greenwood,Watty Place
James
Greenwood, Harehill
John
Buckley, Ridgefoot
William
Eastwood, Todmorden
James
Fielden, Dobroyd
H.G.
Mitchell
James
Fielden
Henry
Buckley
John
Ratcliffe
William
Sagar
H.
Heyworth M.D.
Thomas
Thomas
William
Scholfield
William
was indeed in good company at the Select Vestry meetings.
He did, however, have a very mischievous streak to his nature.
At
one time he had the old smithy on Cheapside, once the home
of John Shackleton, who had been an unpopular and ill-tempered
old man. When John Shackleton died, Will took over the property.
It was an eye-sore to both Will and his neighbours as John
Shackleton had been less than particular in his habits. The
old folk of the neighbourhood had thought that John had sold
his soul to the devil, and when he died there were many rumours
of ghosts about the place. It seems that Will encouraged this
idea by causing strange noises from within the old building
quite deliberately. Will re-built the property and raised
its height an extra storey, which had the effect of making
the very narrow old road along the side of the building extremely
dark, becoming another source of annoyance to the neighbours. |
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In
1823 he operated his ironmongery business from premises
in Church Street and after his father died, moved to
the North Street shop, where he remained the rest of
his life, never deviating from his trade in all his
68 years. Pots,
spoons, knives, forks, pans and tin wares could be bought
on any week day in the village from Will Scholfield. At
that time, between the entrance to the White Hart Fold
and the Black Swan on North Street, there were 3 shops,
occupied by: John Roberts, a tailor, James Postlethwaite,
another tailor, and William Scholfield. |
Church Street 1860 |
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Between
the Black Swan and the railway viaduct, there were several
businesses and houses, among them being the cooper's
shop of Will's nephew, James Scholfield, Shadrach Sutcliffe's
pie-shop, and Thomas Taylor's putting-out warehouse,
with the dwelling-houses of Mr. Henry Buckley and Mrs.
Scarr next to the railway arch. |
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North
Street 1908 |
There was nothing on
the opposite side of the road apart from the free running
river until the Oddfellows built their hall in 1840
and with it, 22 cottages and 2 shops. |
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Will
is buried at St. Mary's with his wife and some of his 12 children:
Hannah
Daughter of William and Mary Scholfield of Todmorden
died October 1809 aged 5.
Also
Cyrill their son died November 5th. 1815 aged 15 days.
Also
Thomas their son died January 21 1819 aged 2.
Also
Ann their daughter died October 22 1821 aged 9.
Also
William their son died October 17th. 1838 aged 28.
Also
above named William Scholfield died May 4th. 1848 aged 67.
Also
Mary his wife died October 14th. 1849 in her 70th. Year.
Also
James their son died January 7th. 1851 in his 48th. Year. |
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Will's
eldest son, James, took over the Church Street business and
opened a second shop on King Street where his son, William
worked. After James' death in 1851, William junior and his
widowed mother kept the business on King Street going, afterwards
moving to Water Street. |
King Street |
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Water Street 1906 |
In
1881 William junior was an ironmonger at 1, Water Street,
living with his sister Susannah and her child. |
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One
of William's sons decided at a young age that being a tradesman
wasn't for him. He was Samuel, born in 1821. On the day of
the 1841 census, at the tender age of 20, he was still living
at home with his parents on North Street and is recorded as
being "an apprentice surgeon". Perhaps a surgeon
isn't so far removed from a joiner? By 1851 both his parents
have died and Samuel is living on Water Street with his unmarried
sister Susan and his widowed sister Elizabeth and her children.
He is now a "Licentiate Apoth Hall General Practitioner". |
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Samuel
later moved to 10, Patmos Cottage and lastly Roomfield
House. He continued to serve as a General Practititoner
until the day he died. On 21st February 1877, although
feeling unwell, he visited his patients as normal. On
returning to Roomfield House he was taken ill and died
of apoplexy. He was 56. |
Roomfield House 1907 |
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| Abraham
Scholfield (born 1788) |
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Abraham,
otherwise known as "Little Hock", was the youngest
of the 4 brothers and the only child of James and Mally
to have been born after they moved to Todmorden. He has
been described as a diminutive man with a big mouth and
a loud voice. When his oldest brother, James, died at 37,
he took over the joinery business on North Street until
such time as his brother's son was able to run the business.
He then moved to Roomfield Lane, working still as a joiner
and cooper. Abraham must have decided to put his voice to
good use for he became the town's auctioneer and appraiser,
and also the town crier. In his spare time, he engraved
the lettering on the grave stones at St. Mary's. He and
his wife had 10 children before his wife died in 1829.
Abraham,
being the auctioneer, would visit farms for sales of buildings
and stock, at which a lot of people would gather to either
bid or spectate. There was always an "outside bar"
arranged by a local publican, and often a glass of gin or
rum was offered free to anyone who made a bid. Abraham was
frequently heard to boast that he could sell any old cow
to anyone with that amount of liquor flowing, but collecting
the payment was less easy!
His
oldest child, James, served an apprenticeship as a cabinet
maker with James Sutcliffe of the Lord Nelson Inn. He then
set himself up in business as a master cabinet maker at
Roomfield Lane next door to his father and siblings. James
was also involved in the Chartist movement at the same time
as his uncle Will the ironmonger, so much so that in 1841
he was nominated for a position on the Chartist General
Council.
Abraham
and James emigrated to North America sometime after 1841.
*
Thank
you to Roger Birch for allowing the use of his photographs
of old Todmorden
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